CARY, NC: Like the blackhole that snuffed out Fortnite’s Season X, the videogame’s latest move has prompted millions of Twitter mentions as it prepared to launch its second chapter.
Fortnite, which has 250 million registered accounts worldwide, ended Season X by temporarily erasing the game from existence. Instead of being able to load into the game, players were forced to watch a swirling black hole as they were locked out of playing for about two days starting on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Fortnite finally unveiled Chapter 2, featuring a brand new map, weapons, abilities and more. Consumer intelligence company Brandwatch said there were more than 1.2 million mentions of Fortnite on Sunday, representing a 2,200% increase in the game’s daily median online mentions.
Not even Colonel Sanders could resist its gravitational pull.
Crazy what happens when you zoom into the black hole ?? pic.twitter.com/oFJU63moGb
— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) October 14, 2019
In almost 64% of all mentions between October 2 and Tuesday, sentiment was largely negative, but this shouldn’t be mistaken for negativity toward Fortnite’s brand, according to Kellan Terry, senior communications manager at Brandwatch.
"While people were confused and outraged at first, that outrage quickly turned to excitement," Terry said, via email. "You can see hashtags like #FortniteChapter2, #FortniteEvent and #FortnightBlackout among the most used within the Fortnite conversation. This shows how people quickly caught on to what was actually happening."
Meltwater noted that amid the hullabaloo, @PornHub was the second-most-mentioned handle behind @FortniteGame with a very not-safe-for-work tweet referencing the Fortnite blackhole.
